Saturday 30 May 2009

Bergman does Bris

In support of the Bergman 'directorspective' that they have coming up, the Barbican are streaming five of the commericals that the director made for Bris soap in 1951. If, like me, you've read about them but never seen them, go check them out as they're well worth watching: http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/series.asp?id=731&show=media.

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Monday 25 May 2009

The Restored Shoes

Although I'm an admirer of his work, and I've never seen a film of his I haven't enjoyed, I wouldn't refer to Michael Powell as one of my favourite directors. However, I have to admit that I'm still pretty excited by all the discussion coming out of Cannes about the new restoration of The Red Shoes. The video in this article got me pretty fired up:


I've always been fascinated by the way that Scorsese's work is informed my Powell's. I actually wrote a chapter of my BA dissertation on the way that both New York, New York and Raging Bull can be traced back to The Red Shoes. If I get a chance, I may post it up here sometime.

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Sunday 17 May 2009

'Life Just Is' Website Now Live

Although I won't be posting regular updates about my feature on this blog, I do want to just quickly follow up on my It's On post from last month and say that the film, called Life Just Is, now has an official website! Please check it out over at http://www.lifejustisfilm.com/, and please also help support the film by doing one of the following:

Visit the film's
official website and join the mailing list.
Become a friend on
MySpace.
Become a fan on
Facebook.
Become a follower on
Twitter.
Become a friend on
Bebo.
Help spread the word by forwarding on these links.

For anyone who is interested in reading blog posts with updates, I will be contributing to the official blog, which you can find here:
http://lifejustisfilm.blogspot.com/.

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Friday 8 May 2009

Cannes in a Van

A couple of months ago I wrote about the need for people to support independent cinema, and I'd now just like to briefly comment on someone who is supporting independent cinema in a very different and much more direct way. For the last few years, Andy Greenhouse and his cohorts have been driving to the Cannes Film Festival...in a van. Why? Well, because it rhymes. But beyond the linguistic pleasures, there is another reason...

You see, this van is actually the world's 'smallest mobile film festival'. Every year the big yellow van parks up on the Croisette and screens independent short films out of the back of the van. Last year these films included one of my own,
Great & Small, and this year I'm pleased to say that they're taking two (Canbury and Paintbrush). It's a truly fantastic, truly independent initiative, and I’m proud to have my work included.

Please visit their website to find out more:
http://www.cannesinavan.com/

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Friday 1 May 2009

Quote for the Week


Pretend to weep, friends, since the poets are only pretending to be dead.

- Jean Cocteau, Testament of Orpheus

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